CSF economists Susan Seehusen, Aaron Bruner and John Reid joined the German technical support agency, GiZ, and the Mexican Protected Areas Commission, CONANP, to support two big efforts to leverage the economic value of protected areas.

Over weekend of October 18-19, Aaron and Susan joined GiZ and parks officials from a handful of Latin American countries to provide technical guidance for the newly launched ValuES program. Yes, that's an upper-case ES for Ecosystem Services; the program focuses on highlighting the values protected ecosystems deliver to human communities in focus countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Vietnam and India, among others.

This week Mexican President Felipe Calderón withdrew the permit for a 9,400 acre development of a mega resort adjacent Cabo Pulmo National Marine reserve on the southern tip of Baja California. Its proximity to a 20,000-year-old reef and hundreds of species turned this project into a global concern. 2011 CSF Economic Tools for Conservation Graduate Paulina Godoy Aguilar of Amigos para la Conservación de Cabo Pulmo AC, had a big hand in this victory. Because of her efforts and those of many other conservationists and activists alike, hundreds of species and thousands of coastal acres have been saved.

p>In a collaborative study by ProNatura Chiapas, Defensores de la Naturaleza, Conservation International and CSF, we analyzed a dam proposed on the Usumacinta River in Mexico. Our objective was to stimulate discussion on the costs and benefits of such projects in Mesoamerica's largest watershed. We chose to analyze the Tenosique project (formerly known as Boca del Cerro), given that it is apparently the dam being given the most serious consideration by planners. We analyzed the project with four criteria in mind: financial feasibility; economic efficiency; the distribution of costs and benefits; and environmental sustainability. A project is considered financially feasible if the firm implementing it receives income in excess of its costs.

Ecoaméricas cites CSF-supported study on roads in the Maya Forest. The study showed that new proposed roads in remote areas of the forest would increase deforestation, spark fires and cause net economic losses to Guatemala and Mexico. In the Americas, the Maya Forest is the largest intact area of rain forest north of the Amazon. It is home to impressive biodiversity, the largest of the ancient mayan cities' ruins, and thriving forest economies.